diff --git a/examples/bin/run_ec2.sh b/examples/bin/run_ec2.sh
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index 8d8a1645d53..39430561ad2
--- a/examples/bin/run_ec2.sh
+++ b/examples/bin/run_ec2.sh
@@ -1,17 +1,19 @@
 # Before running, you will need to download the EC2 tools from http://aws.amazon.com/developertools/351
 # and then setup your EC2_HOME and PATH variables (or similar):
 # 
-# unzip ec2-api-tools.zip
-# cd ec2-api-tools-*
-# 
 # # Setup environment for ec2-api-tools
-# export EC2_HOME=`pwd`
-# echo "EC2_HOME=`pwd`" >> ~/.bash_profile
-# echo 'export PATH=$PATH:$EC2_HOME/bin' >> ~/.bash_profile
-# source ~/.bash_profile
+# export EC2_HOME=/path/to/ec2-api-tools-1.6.7.4/
+# export PATH=$PATH:$EC2_HOME/bin
 
-AWS_ACCESS_KEY=
-AWS_SECRET_KEY=
+export AWS_ACCESS_KEY=AKIAI42EC3TWOGWFXZHQ
+export AWS_SECRET_KEY=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
+
+# Check for ec2 commands we require and die if they're missing
+type ec2-create-keypair >/dev/null 2>&1 || { echo >&2 "I require ec2-create-keypair but it's not installed.  Aborting."; exit 1; }
+type ec2-create-group >/dev/null 2>&1 || { echo >&2 "I require ec2-create-group but it's not installed.  Aborting."; exit 1; }
+type ec2-authorize >/dev/null 2>&1 || { echo >&2 "I require ec2-authorize but it's not installed.  Aborting."; exit 1; }
+type ec2-run-instances >/dev/null 2>&1 || { echo >&2 "I require ec2-run-instances but it's not installed.  Aborting."; exit 1; }
+type ec2-describe-instances >/dev/null 2>&1 || { echo >&2 "I require ec2-describe-instances but it's not installed.  Aborting."; exit 1; }
 
 # Create a keypair for our servers
 ec2-create-keypair druid-keypair > druid-keypair
@@ -29,11 +31,12 @@ ec2-authorize druid-group -P tcp -p 1-65535 -o druid-group
 ec2-authorize druid-group -P udp -p 1-65535 -o druid-group
 
 # Use ami ami-e7582d8e - Alestic Ubuntu 12.04 us-east
-ec2-run-instances ami-e7582d8e -n 1 -g druid-group -k druid-keypair --instance-type m1.small
-ec2-describe-instances
+INSTANCE_ID=$(ec2-run-instances ami-e7582d8e -n 1 -g druid-group -k druid-keypair --instance-type m1.small| awk '/INSTANCE/{print $2}')
+ec2-describe-instances|grep INSTANCE|grep $INSTANCE_ID
+sleep 30
 
 # Get hostname and ssh with the key we created, and ssh there
-INSTANCE_ADDRESS=`ec2-describe-instances|grep 'INSTANCE'|cut -f4` && echo $INSTANCE_ADDRESS
+INSTANCE_ADDRESS=`ec2-describe-instances|grep 'INSTANCE'|grep $INSTANCE_ID|cut -f4` && echo $INSTANCE_ADDRESS
 ssh -i ~/.ssh/druid-keypair -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no ubuntu@${INSTANCE_ADDRESS} <<\EOI
   # Install dependencies - mysql and Java, and setup druid db
   export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive